Once you Believe in Jesus, then What?

Let's suppose that you have come to believe in Jesus. You believe He is the Son of God. You believe that He gave His life to save you, to pay for your sins. You believe He rose again. You have put your faith in Him and you want to do the will of the Father now. You turn your back on the rebellious practices you once engaged in and you are willing to live a new life. So how do you actually get to do the will of the Father? The first instruction Jesus gives to people who believe in Him for the first time is to continue in His Word. This sorts out pretty quickly those who are willing to meet God's conditions for salvation, and those who are not.

1. Continue in the Word of Jesus

"Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free ."

So its like this. You say you believe in Jesus? Fine, the first thing Jesus wants from you is to CONTINUE in HIS WORD.

These same Jews who "believed in Jesus" did not really become children of God through this believing. Listen to what Jesus said to these same people a few verses later.

Therefore Jesus said to them, "If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven't come of myself, but he sent me. Why don't you understand my speech? Because you can't hear my word. You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn't stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and its father.

If some sort of believing in Jesus makes a person a child of God, then how come Jesus said to those Jews who believed him "You are of your father, the devil"?

These Jews were so sure they were children of Abraham, and children of God, and they told Jesus so. But Jesus contradicted them. I hope that Jesus will not contradict any of us when we declare that we are children of God. How can we be sure that He won't? By doing what He said here: CONTINUING in His Word.

Jesus said in John 8:37 "I know that you are Abraham's seed, yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you." Jesus acknowledges that these people are the seed of Abraham according to the flesh, but not according to the spirit. The deciding factor here is whether Jesus' word finds an ongoing place in your heart and life.

Paul the apostle said: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord." (Colossians 3:16)

I wish I could say that by continuing to attend church and hear the sermons you can be sure that you are meeting these conditions of giving the Word of Jesus the correct place in your heart. Certainly, God wants you to be part of a church and worship Him there if you possibly can, but sadly, many preachers do NOT preach God's Word faithfully. They don't teach people to repent. They don't have the power of the Holy Spirit flowing through their lives. They AREN'T filled with the Holy Spirit even though God's Word commands them to be (Ephesians 5:18). Instead, they may have a "theological education" where they have learned certain traditions of men about the Word of God. They may know how to move and shake in church politics so as to be able to make a career out of leading a church congregation. But THOSE THINGS do not mean that if you hear them you will keep hearing Jesus. Be warned. We are now living in a Day of Apostasy. Many popular churches are filled with people who have no real intention of doing what God says through Jesus in the New Testament. And we have many preachers who have no real intention of teaching people to obey everything written in the gospels (Matthew 28:19).

This is tragic because the local church is very important to God. God wants you to find and join with a local church. But there is nothing to say you must be fully committed to the first local church you stumble across, or the one you currently find yourself in. Ask the Lord to guide you to the local church HE wants you in. It should be one where they preach the Bible and honor it as God's Word.

How can you continue in the Word of Jesus?

I would strongly suggest reading the gospels through, and taking note of all Jesus' commands. A few, like the ones about not taking a money bag, have been abrogated by other commands in the gospels themselves. Those commands were just specific to a particular training mission. But in general, the commands of Jesus are for today. We can deduce this from Matthew 28:19,20. Jesus told His disciples to teach diciples to obey everything He commanded them, the orginal 11 there.

We ought to meditate on the Words of Jesus, because they will be the standard by which our lives will be evaluated.

"He that rejectethme,andreceivethnotmywords,hath one that judgeth him:the wordthat I have spoken , the same shall judgehimin the lastday.49ForIhavenot spokenofmyself;but the Father which sentme,hegaveme a commandment,what I should say ,andwhat I should speak .50And I knowthathiscommandmentislifeeverlasting:whatsoeverI speaktherefore, even as the Fathersaid unto me,so I speak ."

So get familiar with the Words Jesus spoke. They are extremely important.

Jesus said that God's commandment is eternal life (vs 50) so when you are rejecting God's commandment through Jesus, you are also rejecting eternal life.

2. Seek the Holy Spirit every Day

The Word of God is like a map, and the map is vital if we want to be on the road to heaven. But actually, in ourselves we are not wise enough to interpret the map to our lives unaided. We actually need God's direct help in this. For this reason, God sent the Holy Spirit to His people to guide them into all truth.

One characteristic of legalistic cults is that they attempt to direct your hopes for salvation on obedience to a human leader or to an organisation. Examples of such include the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Mormons and yes, the Roman Catholic church. In contrast to this, true churches will teach you to seek after, receive and obey the HOLY SPIRIT, who is given to live inside every true believer who obeys God.

We are commanded to "Be filled [continually] with the Holy Spirit". (Ephesians 5:18). This can happen when we engage in much prayer and allow our lives to be guided by the inner witness that God gives his children. We should let the anointing of God teach us things. We learn from experience what makes the Holy Spirit sad, and what rejoices God's heart. The Holy Spirit's leading and teaching will never contradict the plain meaning of Scriptures. God gave us both these precious gifts so we could be equipped to do the will of God.

All attempts to obey God independently of the Holy Spirit are DOOMED TO FAILURE.

3. Tell Others about Christ and His Word Boldly and Regularly

We receive power from the Holy Spirit to be witnesses of Jesus. Acts 1:8 says:

"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be witnesses of me".

Our Christianity will never be complete if it is merely a private affair between us, God, and perhaps a few trusted people.

Instead, Jesus wants us to get filled with the Holy Spirit and then talk about Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the One who will make Jesus real to us and to others.

As long as you publicly identify with Jesus Christ and confess Him openly, urging others to hear His message and listen to Him, you are unlikely to grow cold in your walk with God. Satan tries to keep Christians silent about the gospel, but the Holy Spirit was given so we would not be silent or ashamed of Jesus.

Jesus commanded us to preach the gospel to all. It says:

"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation" (Mark 16:15). Jesus also said, "Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:18-20). The Psalms talk about declaring the salvation of God to others. This is a great key for spiritual growth. It may do more for your growth in God than anything else. It is also something many of us shy away from. This is not good. What we need to do is to stir one another up to do more about telling the world about Jesus Christ. Jesus came to save the world from their sins, and paid a terrible price to do so, but it will be wasted if we criminally keep our mouths shut about the gospel in this world that is so out of harmony with the plan of God.

If you will take all these steps God will lead you in everything else. Yes, there is baptism in water – something you should do as soon as you are fully committed to Christ. There is the Baptism in the Holy Spirit also – an experience you will need if you are to fully enjoy and serve God in His power, not your own. But if you do the three things mentioned here – Continuing in the Word of Jesus, Seeking the Holy Spirit Daily and Telling Others about Jesus, then God will surely guide you in all the other things as well, and you will have a fruitful life in God, which is what He has planned for you.

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